Norm Coleman’s legal filing from this morning, calling for the throwing-out of ballots he previously agreed were legal, really has the Franken camp angry. The new Franken filing in response doesn’t just call for the Coleman lawyers’ request to be denied, but goes further: “Contestants’ effort to renege on the stipulation they freely entered and eviscerate the binding order of this Court warrants the imposition of sanctions.” (Emphasis ours.)
The case here from the Franken camp is that the 933 absentee ballots in question should never have been numbered in the first place, as it violates the secret ballot — they objected to it when the Coleman camp demanded it, but the Secretary of State’s office did it, anyway. Thus, they said, they entered into a careful negotiation with the Coleman camp to stipulate that the ballots were all legal, and that the numbers would be blacked out. Now Coleman has declared the agreement null and void.
“As the Court is well aware, the February 3 Stipulation and Order was the product of lengthy negotiations between the parties,” the filing said. “One key purpose of the Stipulation and Order was to settle a claim in litigation. Settlement agreements — especially those turned into orders — are highly favored by the courts.”
In its call for sanctions, the Franken team also brings up how the Coleman camp has taken to the habit of openly attacking the court:
Finally, the public has a strong interest in maintaining its confidence in the judiciary. Contestants’ latest strategy is to attack the legitimacy of Minnesota’s electoral system and the decisions of this Court. Until now, that strategy has been pursued outside the courtroom through the voice of a spokesperson. Now, the strategy has entered the courtroom, through this motion.
The Franken camp hasn’t specified what form sanctions should take, but has asked for a hearing to be scheduled so that they can argue the proposition. If the court were to grant that hearing, it would really be must-see TV.
